BOR releases final impact statement on Gooseberry

The Bureau of Reclamation's Provo Area Office announced Monday the release of the Narrows Project Final Environmental Impact Statement. The Sanpete Water Conservancy District is the Project sponsor. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Forest Service served as cooperating agencies on the FEIS.

The FEIS describes and analyzes the potential effects of four project alternatives. The No Action Alternative represents the conditions of the affected area in Sanpete and Carbon counties if the project is not built. The three action alternatives represent three different versions of the Narrows Project, each differing in the size of the dam and reservoir. Analysis of three reservoir sizes enables the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative.

The preferred alternative is to allow SWCD, a non-federal entity, to build, operate, and maintain the largest dam considered with a reservoir capacity of 17,000 acre-feet of water stored behind a dam with a height of 120 feet, a crest length of 550 feet, and a reservoir surface area of 604 acres.

The reservoir would produce an average yield of 5,136 acre-feet per year - 4,281 acre-feet of water for 15,420 acres of farmland and 855 acre-feet of water for municipal and industrial use (one acre-foot is sufficient to support a suburban family of four for one year).

As proposed, the Narrows Project dam would be located on Gooseberry Creek in Sanpete County. The alternatives would require diversion of up to 5,400 acre-feet of water annually from Gooseberry Creek drainage in the Colorado River Basin to northern Sanpete County in the Sevier River drainage.

Reclamation will not make a decision on the proposed action until at least 30 days after release of the FEIS. After this 30-day public review period, Reclamation will complete a Record of Decision that will state the action to be implemented and discuss all factors leading to that decision.

The FEIS is available on Reclamation's web site at: www.usbr.gov/uc/envdocs/index.html. The record of decision will be posted after the 30-day review period.